First Time Playing Online Game? Lost in the sea of acronyms and MMO terminology?

[Voxin]

Can someone please explain to me what a Gold Farmer is?
sorry if this has been asked before

"Gold Farming" (and, therefore, "Gold Farmer") may be bad or not depending on the context.

"Farm" or "Farming," in this sense, simply means to do something to gain items to sell (or money drops) to make money (i.e., gold). Thus, Gold Farming is nothing more than doing something, usually repetitive like killing a mob that drops high value items over and over, to accumulate gold.

The term, by itself, is neutral. Players do this to earn money, so there is nothing technically bad about "gold farming." But it can be negative in two ways. If a player is killing a mob over and over and monopolizing a mob that others need to complete a quest or get something they can use, then it can be negative. However, in this case, it is the monopolization of the content that is the issue, not the gold farming. The other way it is negative is the big one, and that is where the term gets its negative connotation. There are companies that create players in games to farm items/gold for no other reason than to sell them (the gold or items) to players for real-life money. This is almost always against the EULA (end user license agreement), so it is illegal in the game (and that is true of LotRO).

Thus, Gold Farming has a negative connotation because "Gold Sellers" (which is the better term since it really only has one meaning) farm gold to sell it, breaking the rules of the game. They offer other "services" for these RMTs (real money transactions) such as leveling characters for players or even level and sell characters. However, all these so-called services damage the game economy by driving up prices or damage the game in general by lowering the quality of players at the upper levels (i.e., it is hard to be a good level 50 player if the only reason you have a character at that level is that you bought it).

[Darej]

ok...got one i havent seen in the thread...

what are/is 'hips'?

i usually see it used in reference to burgs.

thanx

[Doronlas]

ok...got one i havent seen in the thread...

what are/is 'hips'?

i usually see it used in reference to burgs.

thanx

It is a nickname for a skill burgs have called Hide in Plain Sight

[Voxin]

ok...got one i havent seen in the thread...

what are/is 'hips'?

i usually see it used in reference to burgs.

thanx

It is a nickname for a skill burgs have called Hide in Plain Sight

Doronlas is correct. HiPS = Hide in Plain Sight. It is a skill that allows a Burglar to stealth even in combat and even if normal stealth is still on cooldown. It also adds a 10 second buff to your stealth making you harder to detect (+10 to stealth level) and preventing damage from breaking you out of stealth. After the buff expires, the HiPS stealth acts like a normal stealth.

The only thing I would add is that Wargs in PvMP also have a stealth skill that can be activated during combat. I believe it is called "Disappear." Because it, too, allows them to vanish during combat, "HiPS" is sometimes used generically to refer to either the Burglar skill "Hide in Plain Sight" or the Warg skill "Disappear."

[Clover]

This guide has been moved over to the Lorebook it can be viewed here:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/MMO_T...y_and_Acronyms

However, I am currently working on expanding this concept by creating a glossary of MMO and LOTRO specific terms and acronyms.

I am looking for General MMO terms as well as LOTRO specific ones. Like locations, Monster-play, class (HiPS for example) and others.

If you have any that you think would be helpful kindly reply to this thread. Please feel free to add a definition.

Thanks!

PS:
Please be sure they follow the forum rules!!

[Thorondor]

Great to see this post in the Lorebook! One of the best on the forums, and one of the few I've remained subscribed to since the beginning. Thanks, Clover!

[patchthegreat]

One problem with this: It only deals with combat. What about afk (away from keyboard) or brb(be right back), or omw(on my way), or wts/wtb(want to sell/buy), and all the other non-combat terms?

[patchthegreat]

OK, this one is what I've seen a few times in the forums. What is "PWN" ? And all its variants? I've seen it turned into a verb and adjective.

Thanks for this list!

I know someone clarified that it means own, like to have an easy victory over, but i hear that the term came from a computer game made in Japan that had a typo, and everyone started makin fun of it in combat games, and it migrated to mmos. fact, or fiction??

[TheScyphozoa]

1. An act of dominating an opponent.

2. Great, ingenious; applied to methods and objects.

Originally dates back to the days of WarCraft, when a map designer mispelled "Own" as "Pwn". What was originally supose to be "player has been owned." was "player has been pwned".

Pwn eventually grew from there and is now used throughout the online world, especially in online games.
1. "I pwn these guys on battlenet"

2. "This strategy pwns!" or "This game pwn."

[GregJL]

While I would agree that "ur" is not an acronym but an abbreviation, I think it's a misunderstanding to call it carelessness or laziness. It's a member of the chat vocabulary that is not limited to mmo's (massive multiplayer online games) and has nothing to do with carelessness or laziness and everything to do w/ efficiency and efficacy.

Whereas abbreviations such as "w/" or "&" have their origins before chat, many ppl (people) use common new abbreviations to speed up their typing or texting, and similarly allow the pacing of chat to more resemble that of free speech. In practice, there is essentially no difference between typing "brb" (be right back) or "afk" (away from keyboard), which are acronyms, and typing "ur" or "cya" which are abbreviations. Both reduce keystrokes, have the same concept in their etymology, and produce the same desired effect. The ampersand only reduces 2 characters yet has been commonly used for centuries. Clearly there is nothing that makes an abbreviation "lazier" than an acronym... imho (in my humble opinion).

One quick comment I must make on this...I would MUCH rather see someone type "ur" for "you're" or "your" than to see them type "your" when they mean "you are" or "you're" when they mean "belonging to you". The first makes them part of the chat/text message generations, the second makes them look stupid.

[Logal444]

Bump to avoid pruning.

[jeffm]

This is an excellent thread. I remember my first mmo and how confusing the language was. Here I was trying to learn how to play my character, and asking questions, and I got jargon and acronyms back in the answer which only confused me more. So, this thread is a real boon to new players.

[Daragh]

Quoted for truth, and quoted for effectiveness.

However, I'm lost with QQ

QQ used to be keystrokes used to close Wow while in-game. IDK (I don't know!) if they're still used, but basically it implies if you can't handle it, quit. Prolly stuck since they do look like crying.

[Odin_of_Freyr]

Not sure if this thread is updated anymore or if anyone cares. I didn't see a couple on the first page that might help some people.


WTB = want to buy

WTS = want to sell


that's all.

[SponJ]

Now it makes sense that AoE skills or spells shouldn't be used when mezzing mobs side by side.

(don't know if this has been posted b4, but just throwing it out there)
I good tank can sometimes pull the non-mezzed mobs away from the mezzed one, allowing AoE to continue.
That adds to the "art" of being a tank.

Also

"oop" means "out-of-power", said when someone no longer has enough power to cast spells/abilities. Normally happens to caster classes but can happen to melee as well. This is usually a VERY bad thing.

DAoC = Dark Age of Camelot

YES! I love that game!

[SponJ]

Well, there may be others who already gave better replies. Thought I just chip in a little.
Hunters' trap (from skill, not "hand-wrought traps") acts like crowd-control -- as soon as you hit the mob, it will break from the trap. The difference is if the mob has ranged attack ability, it will continue to attack you from afar. However, if you break the line-of-sight, you won't take damage from it.

One type of trap (hand-wrought trap) can survive attack, though only available to high level players... called "inescapable trap".

Hunters also have a legendary trait skill that deal AoE attack and trapping mobs. It is a probability hit/trap, so it comes in handy when there is no crowd-control member in your fellowship.

Loremasters have a few AoE crowd-control skills too, though I rarely seen them used. One of them traps mobs to the ground (with branches from the ground).

So maybe there should be a new term? AoECC?

I think the term is "Area-mez" thats just how I've heard it. Or "instant Area Mez"

[Balgost]

Thanks Slave_to_the_Wheek and all others that have posted. I've muddled my way to Level33 solo Elf Guardian and still did not know what many of the terms and acronyms meant. Just found the post and it explains a lot of what I have already seen. This is my first MMO after years of FPS's and now I see why so many play these games. Now to go find a thread about Fellowships and playing "your" role. Gotta learn how to tank effectively now that I know what it means.

[Boblet1]

Not sure if this thread is updated anymore or if anyone cares. I didn't see a couple on the first page that might help some people.


WTB = want to buy

WTS = want to sell


that's all.

Also, you occasionally see, especially in fellowship or kinship chat, WTG = Want to give (give away for free, usually to help friends or save some bag space)

[Slave_to_the_Wheek]

I've gone in and updated the Original Post to include several more terms. I'm not sure at what point it becomes too overwhelming though. There are some amazing and wonderful posts by others that go into other subjects that are also important but I'm afraid it might make the guide itself too large.

Let me know what you think!

It's only two pages long because of the massive signatures that the forum uses. It's an easy read so I recommend reading not just the OP but the other posts as well. Also, if you think there is anything else that you want to ask or add please do!

ttfn,
slaver